Meet Melissa Lombardo

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Lombardo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Melissa , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), resilience is defined as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life
experiences.” In contrast, the Oxford Dictionary describes resilience as “the capacity to
withstand or recover quickly from difficulties.” While both definitions capture key aspects
of resilience, they differ in the implied timeline for recovery.

Reflecting on my own experiences with resilience, particularly in the aftermath of sexual
assault, I recognize that my recovery was not swift. However, over time, I was able to
cultivate resilience through a non-linear healing process. This gradual strengthening of
resilience enabled me to better navigate and “recover” from subsequent traumas that
unfolded in my life.

My personal understanding of resilience aligns closely with the APA’s definition,
emphasizing adaptation and growth over time. I continue to build my capacity for
resilience and believe that others can do the same.
In looking back, community connections and self-care were essential to my resilience-
building journey.

In my opinion, these two elements are often overlooked in resilience building because
as a society I feel we value individual strength and perseverance over the collective
support community offers and holistic paths to self-care and well-being. However, I
believe community support and self-care are critical for developing resilience and
finding one's place in the world.

Having a strong support network provides emotional validation, practical help, and a
sense of belonging, which are crucial when facing adversity, trauma, challenges, and
even moments of triumph and sustained growth.

Likewise, self-care ensures that individuals prioritize their mental and physical health,
enabling them to cope more effectively with stress and challenges. Without these
elements, resilience becomes harder to maintain, as both ones external and internal
resources are diminished. Recognizing the importance of these factors helps foster a
more holistic approach to healing, thriving, and becoming more resilient.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Melissa B. Lombardo, and as an individual I am deeply passionate about supporting others in their healing and thriving journeys. As a bilingual sexual assault
crisis advocate, trauma-sensitive author, and encouraging speaker I navigated my own
path of healing from the significant trauma of sexual violence and have found my life
purpose from these difficult times.

As I began to heal from trauma and subsequently decided to publish a book and
performance piece on my experiences, I knew I wanted to form my own business. My
company, Write, Heal, Thrive LLC, is built on my personal experience with writing and
journaling as a form of healing. I created this business to offer others the opportunity to
find healing and resilience through literature, creative workshops, speaking
engagements, community connection opportunities, and one-on-one coaching and
mentoring.

At Write, Heal, Thrive, we provide books, workshops, and journaling resources
designed to help individuals process trauma and move from surviving to thriving. Our
flagship publication, Hurt, Healing, and Hope: Thriving beyond Sexual Assault, is a
performance piece and book that tells stories of survivors and their healing, aiming to
inspire others who have experienced sexual violence as well as allies.

My journey into healing has also brought me on a path to finding and living joy. I had a wonderful opportunity to co-author a book titled, Keys to Joyful Living: Unlock Freedom, Joy, and your Soul’s Expansion. This book is a resource filled with first person accounts by 6 co-authors and I am certain you will be able to find additional keys to living a more joyful life. The book has really brought me new levels of healing and thriving and am already bringing additional learnings into my interactions with others via Write, Heal, Thrive as they discover their own inner capacity to move beyond their own challenges into a life of joy.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My own journey has been filled with many ups and many downs. In reflecting back on my journey into healing, forming Write, Heal, Thrive and publishing my first title, I now
clearly identify that resilience, authenticity, and community have been the most
impactful “qualities” in my journey.

Let me explain a little bit more about how I view these important aspects of my journey.
Resilience is a learned skill. I know I have spoken about it already, but it is worth
mentioning again. My journey of healing post trauma helped build resilience. In my
current work, I help others cultivate their own inner resilience whether it be a
publication, a speaking engagement, or a workshop.

Authenticity is an important quality for me as a person working in the field of trauma
and healing. I realized early on in podcast interviews after publishing, “Hurt, Healing,
and Hope: Thriving beyond Sexual Assault” that I was going to be “Authentic Melissa”
wherever I was. There would be no “hiding” behind my own self-imposed mask. I was
going to be honest with my experiences, make myself vulnerable in safe spaces, and
share my story to guide others through their own healing journey.

Community builds knowledge and collective co-creating. In addition to connecting with
a support system of family, friends, and other individuals, community also means being
a support for others and being a safe space. Community brings people together and
naturally builds knowledge leading to new learnings and opportunities and in my case.
alignment with my greater purpose.

I just wanted to take a special moment to mention a few of the people in my community that stand out for me
.
My godfather, siblings, and parents are specific examples of family members who have
supported me through every phase of my life, witnessing my growth and cheering me
on. I feel honored and proud to have them in my life. I know that my path would have
been vastly different without the strengthening of these relationships. I am grateful for community around me near and far.

Okay, thank you for letting me give a small shout out those special people mentioned above.

Those three pieces I previously mentioned, resilience, authenticity, and community are the HEART of my work and helped me build my skills,
knowledge base, and confidence to take additional steps in my journey. I may not have
directly answered the question, however, as someone who has journeyed to the depths
of my own being and came back stronger, building those three pieces led me to build
skills and expand my knowledge base more than I could have previously imagined. I
would not be where I am today if not for my journey inwards to healing from past
trauma.

I encourage anyone reading this to reflect on how you authentically “show up” in your
lives and for others. You might want to take time to journal on what resilience means to
you, how you have been resilient in the past, and how you can further build your
resilience.

There are so many paths in life and no two paths are the same. We each have our own
strengths and can contribute positively to the world around us by being our authentic,
resilient, engaged selves.

The tools we need for our next steps are already within us, we just need to look within
and find them. There are many ways to cultivate those tools. If you are unsure how,
think about who you might ask, where you might research, what you might do to
uncover your own limitless potential. You Got This!

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Wow, this is a great question. I am so glad you asked.

I would love to collaborate with organizations, individuals, and professionals to help
expand their impact on healing, resilience, and personal growth. In fact, I currently
collaborate with a great organization, “Jane Doe No More” as a proud member of their
Outreach Team and as part of their Survivor Speak team.

In thinking about other potential collaborations, I have a few areas in mind that would be
a great fit for working together in the future.

I would like to expand partnerships with non-profit organizations, businesses, sexual
assault crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and trauma recovery
organizations. It would be great for myself and Write, Heal, Thrive to provide literature,
workshops, speaking engagements, and creative healing resources. I would be thrilled
to partner with organizations to offer survivor storytelling workshops and performances
of Hurt, Healing, and Hope: Thriving beyond Sexual Assault with a community
discussion post-performance.

As a trauma-informed holistic health practitioner with a transformative mental health
background, partnering with therapists, counselors, and holistic healers I would like
to integrate Write, Heal, Thrive journaling, creative art workshops, and mindful
meditation workshops into support group settings and coaching programs Offering
participants a path for self-expression and healing beyond traditional therapy settings
especially when this is in collaboration with other trauma-informed professionals would
be such a great resources for individuals so many types of settings.

Educational Institutions and Community Theaters also make for great collaborations
especially in sexual assault advocacy and education. I am a certified sexual assault
crisis advocate and strongly believe and having conversations with the younger
generation.

I would love to partner with high schools, universities, and community theaters to host
educational performances of Hurt, Healing, and Hope: Thriving beyond Sexual Assault
to raise awareness about sexual violence and the path to healing and thriving. Included
in these collaborations are opportunities for additional resources, small and large group
setting discussion questions and journaling activities to help integrate these
performances into educational curricula, facilitating important conversations on trauma
and healing​. One of the key times for this type of collaboration might be during Sexual
Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in April.

Finally, I would like to expand collaborations with other authors and artists to co-
create anthologies, write for print publications, plan area events, and bring additional
art-based, bilingual healing resources with my heart-centered illustrator, Eduardo Arias
Cruz.

I believe in collaboration and partnerships. There are so many possibilities. Together
we can help reach broader audiences by combining expertise and expanding our
aligned missions to provide advocacy, education, awareness, healing, and thriving to
more individuals and communities. I look forward to hearing from you to discuss
possibilities.

Contact Info:

 

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